When first starting on anything, it takes all our attention and wits to grasp the task. Whether learning how to ride a bike or starting a new job, we get wracked with nerves and emotions – curiosity, excitement, and even anxiety. That’s our beginner mindset at work.
The intensity of the new experience and the desire to “get it right” puts us in a peak learning state. It also makes it more enjoyable and satisfying when we figure it out.
We lose this mentality as we gain mastery over whatever we’re doing. We lose that spark, that tension. Then, whatever the thing is we’re doing becomes a routine, another item on a long list of things we need to do.
Getting back in touch with the beginner’s mindset is a little-known hack for reintroducing curiosity and satisfaction from life’s many tasks. If that notion tickles your tongue, you’re in for a good time. Here are a few ways to get back in touch with your inner beginner today.
What is a beginner mindset?
Expanding on the earlier points, a beginner mindset is one in which you approach each experience through the eyes of a beginner. In other words, someone engaging with the world through the lens of a beginner’s mind tries to look at each thing they do as if it’s the first time they’re doing it.
“If your mind is empty … it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind, there are few” – the words of Shunryu Suzuki, one of the Zen Buddhism teachers who helped popularize the practice.
An expert in something, or at least someone good enough to perform a task competently without any thought, has many preconceived ideas and notions about what to expect, effectively stripping each job of its “newness” and making it dull.
Beginners carry none of these expectations and instead engage without a clear idea of what is to come. And the task is more fulfilling because of it.
How to craft your beginner mindset
1. Take no heed of the stories of past experiences
Our minds’ stories and what we choose to believe significantly impact our quality of life. They are also one hundred percent within our control, unlike the objects and events upon which our mind bases the stories.
If, for example, someone says something nasty, or is late, or a million other things, the story we typically form is that the person’s intentions were wrong, or the situation is negative.
When we choose to believe these stories, predicated solely on assumptions gathered and justified from past experiences, we are unhappy.
Suppose, instead, we realize that the story has no basis in reality. Whatever the person said or situation you find yourself in could be due to countless unforeseen factors. In that case, many of which are not harmful or about us at all.
2. Let children inspire you
Children live in a perpetual state of beginner mind. Next time you’re around a child, notice how they interact in the world. How do they approach situations that to you seem utterly mundane? See if you can take note of their attitudes and the questions they ask, like:
- What is this?
- Why is it like that?
- How does this work?
- Why doesn’t this do that?
…and incorporate them into your own life.
3. Take it slow
Autopilot consumes us all. Driving a car, making food, shopping… it seems like as we grow older, the more absent from our many activities we become.
Our minds are off in distant lands, listening to music, thinking about vacations, anything to escape the drudgery of the trivial tasks we are obligated to complete.
How draining that sounds! The irony is that to escape the drudgery, we must be willing to engage with it fully, to explore every aspect of each situation through the eyes of a beginner, the eyes of a child.
Mindful participation dissolves the walls of autopilot quicker than a shot of Don Julio.
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